Bitcoin Highlights Through August 1st, 2014

It has been another busy week for the world of bitcoin. Here are some of the more interesting news articles with links allowing you to read further on articles of interest to you.

PropinaBitcoin Launches in Latin America

For the Spanish-challenged, propina is the Spanish word for “tip” or “gratuity”. This new site is looking to promote in-person tipping at restaurants and bars throughout Central and South America. The idea is to leave a “paper wallet” with a tip that looks like a currency note, so the uninformed will become curious enough to follow the instructions to receive their “propina”.

Comment: It’s an interesting idea to help the adoption of bitcoin. The full article is at CoinDesk.

First Data To Acquire Gyft

The international payment processor First Data reached an agreement to acquire Gyft, a startup that sells gift cards to popular stores for bitcoins, as announced by Gyft. The sale price was rumored to be between 50 and 100 million dollars.

Comment: This is quite interesting to see an international, read traditional, payment processor move into the bitcoin world. They clearly see the writing on the wall, the end of their 3% monopoly on every transaction we make. They are “hedging their bets” by betting on bitcoin! The full article is at CoinReport.

What is a Bitcoin Whale?

And finally, the term “whale” is often used in financial circle to describe a large trader, someone or some entity that trades in large blocks of stocks, or in this case, bitcoins. Working in the bitcoin world as whales are traditional financial institutions such as hedge funds and bitcoin investment funds.

Comment: Many of the richest people in the world are now investing in bitcoin, primarily through these special high-net-worth funding options. They are not exactly publicizing this point, yet they want to be part of the dramatic growth of this new digital currency. A list of bitcoin whales along with an article on bitcoin investment by the wealthiest individuals and corporations is at Cryptocoins News.

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Published by Marc A. Carignan

Marc A. Carignan has traveled the world doing business in over 35 countries. He studies leadership techniques and provides executive coaching and management consulting services. Since 2013, Marc has studied Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and reported on his findings. He uses his understanding of technology, his coaching techniques and his training experience to make Bitcoin and its impacts understandable to business and personal users.